Karlstad - a tourist destination under development

Karlstad is situated halfway between Oslo and Stockholm. Karlstad lies on the river delta where two of Swedens's great natural waterways meet; the 500 km long River Klarälven and the mighty Lake Vänern, with its archipelago of 22 000 islands.

In 2004 the City Council decided to invest in tourism. It became one of four important focus areas. In 2005 Karlstad and neighbouring municipalities Hammarö, Forshaga, Grums and Kil joined the Interreg IIIB North Sea Region project Canal Link. The most important outcome of the project is the development of a 10-year long strategy with the goal to double the turnover, number of employees and tax revenue within the tourism industry in the region. The Strategy was approved of by all municipal councils in Karlstad, Hammarö, Forshaga, Kil and Grums. In 2008 Karlstad joined the Interreg IVB North Sea Region project named Waterways for Growth. This project focuses on activities to stimulate business and product development and networking. For example "speed dating" amongst businesses was arranged. The purpose was to provide a "meeting platform" for businesses. The entrepreneurs start to cooperate, share ideas and produce packaged tours. 41 businesses participated in all together 158 meetings in January.

The new technology solutions are being estimated to see how they can be used to support businesses and link businesses to costumers. A new website for tourist information was created: www.destinationkarlstad.se. The final release will be in May. Young people, visitors and the local businesses were consulted about the website.

A marketing research was made 2009 to find out who the Swedish and Norwegian visitors were, where they came from and what they were interested in. A summary of the analysis will be translated into English and distributed among the partners.